As an increasing volume of sensitive personal information is stored on computers, personal and otherwise, it is increasingly important that access to these computers is controlled. Even the most basic user of computers is familiar with a requirement to provide a password to gain access to a computer and execute various software application on the processor of the computer. Such a one-factor authentication scheme is based solely on what the user knows, i.e., the password. Should the password become known to those other than the user whose account access to which is controlled by the password, the others can use the password to gain access to the user's account.
To increase security, some computers have been configured to implement an additional authentication scheme. The additional factor is biometric information. Biometric information includes fingerprints, retinal scans, face geometry scans, hand geometry scans, voice or speech prints, etc. Now, to gain access to the computer of interest, the user provides a device password. If the password is determined to be valid, the user is prompted to provide biometric information. The user will only gain access to the computer of interest if the biometric information submitted responsive to the prompt properly matches a previously established and stored version of the biometric information.
The additional security provided to computers through the use of a biometric authentication scheme has recently been extended to other electronics.